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No. 6I7.l48. Patented Jan. 3, I899. W. J. M. DUBSON.

DRYING APPARATUS.-

(Application filed Dec. 12, 1896. Renewed Aug. 17, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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\VILLIAM J. M. DOBSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DRYING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,148, dated January3, 1899. Application filed December 12, 1896. Renewed August 1'7, 1898,Serial No. 688,818. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that LWILLIAM J M. DOBSON, a citizen of the United States,residing in New York, (Brooklyn,) in the county of Kings and State ofNew York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in DryingApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates particularly to drying freshly-printed wall-paperand analogous productions. The paper is received from theprinting-rollers between traveling belts, on which it is supported inloops orconvolutions on transverse rods, as usual, with thefreshlyprinted surfaces uppermost and adjacent to each other in theloops. It is the common practice to efiect the drying by carrying thepaper thus looped over heating pipes arranged below and consequentlynext the dry or unprinted surface.

My invention consists in placing one or more pipes of sufficientcapacity above the line of travel, perforating them on the under side,and forcing hot dry air downward through the perforations upon andbetween the freshly-printed surfaces of the paper. By this means thepaper is rapidly and uniformly dried, and consequently the length oftravel and time required to effect the drying is materially reduced andthe length of the apparatus correspondingly shortened, resulting inconsiderable saving in floor-space and I believe also in the fuelconsumed by reason of the more direct application of the hot air.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification andrepresent the manner in which I have carried out the invention.

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section, partly in elevation, showingtwo sets of traveling belts and suspended convolutions of the paperarranged one above the other with my invention applied. Fig. 2 is acorresponding longitudinal section of a portion. Fig. 3 is across-section of one of the hot-air pipes on a larger scale. Fig. 4 is acorresponding longitudinal section.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

A A are the upright portions of the framing, shown as extending fromfloor to ceiling, and A A are longitudinally-extending stringersarranged in two sets, one above the other, supported at intervals on theadjustable brackets A A and grooved on their upper faces to receive theendless belts B, carried by the pulleys B, driven by the sprocketchains13 and belts and pulleys B and B by power received from any convenientsource.

0 G are the cross-rods, supported at each end on the traveling belts Band held against displacement endwise by the strips A A on the uprightsA. The freshly-printed paper M is looped upon the rods 0 by the usualmeans, and the whole construction as yet described may be of anyordinary or approved design.

D D are the hot-air pipes. I have shown one for each drying-sectionarranged centrally longitudinally of the line of travel. Each isperforated on the under side, as shown at d, and receives hot dry airfrom a furnace or other heating apparatus (not shown) and preferablyunder moderate pressure, as from a blower. The hot air is thus forced orblown downward into the convolutions of the paper as they are carriedalong and is brought into direct and intimate contact with the wetfreshly-printed surface of the web. The pressure should be sufficient toinsure the air-currents reaching well down to the bight of each loop,and as they are directed downwardly between the parallel sides of thelatter the effect of the strong'current is to still further separate thewet surfaces and prevent offset= ting from one to the other.

Although I have shown a single pipe D for each deck or section of thedrier, it will be understood that two or more may be arranged side byside in parallel lines or otherwise and also that the size of the pipesand the size and frequency of the perforations may be varied.

I attach importance to the fact that the air is delivered from above. Ifthe air be sup= plied from below or from the sides, the cur rents mustbe exceedingly gentle to avoid dis placing the loops and wrinkling thepaper, and consequently the drying must proceed more slowly. By blowingdownward between the freshly-printed surfaces forming the in ner facesof the loops I am able to supply hot dry air in large quantities in morerapid mo tion than would be otherwise practicable, for the reason thatthe air-currents tend to separate the wet Surfacesaud hold those facesout of contact regardless of the force of the current.

I am aware that hot dry air has been before projected against thesurfaces of a web while passing over and under the cylinders in theprocess of paper manufacture, and do not therefore claim such.

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In an apparatus for drying wall-paper and like products printed upon oneside only, the traveling belts B, the cross-rods O thereon supportingthe web of freshly-printed paper M by the unprinted side and carrying itforward in a series of convolutions or loops, in combination with thepipe D mounted above the series of moving loops and close to said WM. J.M. DOBSON.

Witnesses:

ROBT. CONNOR, J NO. J. MCLEAN.

